Social issues are not the Republican Party's problem – the gender gap is about healthcare, not sex

Let’s puncture this myth about the gender gap. USA Today is trumpeting a new poll that claims the mythical Republican War on Contraception has killed the GOP’s reputation among women. It shows that Romney leads Obama among men by 48 to 47 percent; but he trails among women, 54 to 46 percent. The gender gap is wide enough to re-elect the Pres by a landslide of 51 to 42 percent.

What’s behind the gender divide? Sex, says the media. In Salon: “This is very likely a result of the prominence that contraception and women’s health issues have assumed in the public debate since February, when Republicans revolted against the Obama administration’s efforts to make birth control a mandatory component of health insurance coverage.” Sex sells, and it’s selling the President.

Or is it? Are all American women really prepared to completely ignore Barack Obama’s appalling record of economic mismanagement just because Rick Santorum’s donor told an off-colour joke about how to avoid pregnancy? Is contraception to women what guns supposedly are to men: can we expect to see Barbra Streisand telling the Republicans, “I’ll give you my prophylactics when you take them from my cold dead hand?” Or are liberals misreading the minds of women voters?

Here’s what’s wrong with the USA Today’s narrative:

1. It was Obama who started the contraception war. The general agreement is that he did so to distract from the economy. Far from being obsessive prudes, the Republicans were simply responding to something the Democrats put out there. And their answer was absolutely correct: the government shouldn’t compel religious organisations to defy their own theology. For the millionth time: this is a freedom of conscience issue for the Right, it’s not a war on reproductive rights.

2. According to the USA Today poll, both men and women rank “government policies on birth control” as the least important issue. Nearly two thirds (63 percent) of respondents don’t know what Mitt Romney’s position on contraception is. So how they can judge that they don’t agree with it is a mystery. A quarter (24 percent) say they know it and dislike it – a figure almost identical to those who disagree with the President (25 percent). In short, the public is largely ignorant of the debate about contraception and doesn’t really understand what the conservative position is on it.

3. Finally, if women hate Neanderthal conservatives so darn much, then why does Rick “babies are delivered by storks” Santorum do slightly better among them than Mitt “my wife gives to Planned Parenthood” Romney? Obama beats Romney 54 to 36 percent among the ladies, whereas he leads Santorum 53 to 38 percent. Could it be because Santorum actually generates more excitement among conservative women than Romney does? That’s why he’s been winning their votes big time in the Southern primaries.

The notable difference between men and women when it comes to ranking the issues is that women think healthcare is the most important. That’s why they’re leaning towards the President – because they back Obamacare. Turning that issue around will be a struggle given that opposition to it is central to the GOP platform. But there’s no evidence that an overnight makeover on social issues is going to help the Republicans.

Imagine if Mitt tried it. Imagine if at the convention he came out onto the stage in an “Abortion Is Beautiful” t-shirt to the tune of “I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar.” Imagine if, instead of giving an acceptance speech, he first led the convention in a prayer of thanks to the Goddess Gaia and then demonstrated how to put a condom on a banana. Would such a dramatic 180 alleviate the concerns of a few elite commentators in the US media and hence close the gender gap? Or would they just say that he’s a serial flip-flopper who will do literally anything to get elected?

Don’t do it, Mitt. Stick to your guns on the social issues. There’s no concrete proof that they lose votes – and the media will kill you if you change your mind on them … yet again.